Main:Vanessa Ferrari
Orzinuovi, Brescia, Italy |Row 4 title = Height |Row 4 info = 4 ft. 8 in. |Row 5 title = Years on National Team |Row 5 info = 2004-present |Row 6 title = Club |Row 6 info = C.S Esercito |Row 7 title = Current status |Row 7 info = Active |Row 8 title = Twitter |Row 8 info = @ferrarivany}}Vanessa Ferrari (born November 10, 1990 in Orzinuovi, Brescia), is a World Champion gymnast from Italy and three-time Olympian, having competed in the Games in 2008, 2012, and 2016. She's the 2006 World All-Around Champion, 2007 World All-Around bronze medalist, and 2007 European All-Around Champion. She's also 2007 and 2014 European Floor Exercise Champion. Her mother, Galya, is Bulgarian and her father, Giovanni, is Italian. Her best event is floor exercise. Junior Career 2004 Ferrari first rose to prominence as a thirteen year old at the 2004 Junior European Championships where she won the silver medal in the all-around competition with a score of 36.525. She also won two bronze medals with the Italian team and on the balance beam with a score of 9.175. 2005 Still in the Junior ranks for 2005, Ferrari turned in more fine performances at the European Youth Olympics in Italy and the 2005 Mediterranean Games in Almería, Spain, winning the All Around Gold Medal at both competitions as well. She also won vault, beam and floor at the latter as well as the Silver Medal on the uneven bars. Senior Career 2006 In 2006, Ferrari qualified as a senior gymnast. She anchored the Italian team a surprise gold medal at the Senior European Championships, edging out defending champions Romania by just one tenth of a point. Although no All Around competition was held, Ferrari's combined score was the highest of any gymnast at the competition. She also won a Silver Medal on the Floor, scoring 15.450 to finish ahead of Olympic Champion Cătălina Ponor. Falls from bars and beam prevented further success there. Ferrari won the Gold Medal in the All Around competition at the 2006 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships with a combined score of 61.025. This win was highly controversial as Ferrari fell from the balance beam while attempting a difficult full twisting back somersault in the third of four rotations. This placed her out of the medals after the third rotation, but she fought back on the floor, sticking her tumbling passes and clinching the gold medal. She finished ahead of several athletes who, unlike her, did not fall, notably the rest of the top 5: Jana Bieger, Sandra Izbaşa, Steliana Nistor and Daria Joura. Ferrari was the first woman ever to win a World Championship with a fall under the 'new life' system (prior to 1989, scores from the team competition counted towards the all-around title, therefore gymnasts were assessed on twelve routines rather than four, making the deduction for a fall easier to absorb). Nicolae Forminte, the coach of the Romanian athletes in third and fourth, lashed out at the result, declaring Bieger the rightful winner and presumably his own athletes the silver and bronze medalists. Consequently, the new code came under fire from experts and fans alike. However, Grandi has said the new code needs no changes. Ferrari went on to win two more medals at the Championships - a bronze on the uneven bars and bronze on the floor exercise. Another beam fall lost her a chance to medal there too, and a disappointing showing from Italy in the qualification round meant they were unable to repeat their triumph at Europeans. 2007 Ferrari has continued her dominance in 2007, winning golds in the all-around and on floor at the European Championships in Amsterdam. Once again, falls on bars and beam in finals prevented medals there, but Italy dominated the competition for the second year running, thanks to both Ferrari's success and Carlotta Giovannini winning vault. In 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Vanessa helped Italian Team to place 4th in team finals. She also won the bronze medal, tied with Jade Barbosa, in All Around final. She placed 8th on bars and 6th on floor. 2008 She competed in 2008 Olympic Games. Her best results were the 11th position in All Around and the 10th position in Team Finals. 2010 Ferrari stopped competing after the Olympics, but she came back to important championships in 2010. She took part in 2010 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships and placed 11th in All Around. She scored 13.833 on vault, 13.866 on bars, 14.233 on beam and 14.233 on floor. Vanessa also was 6th on floor (14.6). 2011 In 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships she helped Italian Team to place 9th in team competition. Ferrari placed 12th in the All Around. She also qualified for the floor final, but due to an injury she didn't compete. 2012 In January 2012, Ferrari took part in 2012 Olympic Test Event where she helped Italy win gold and qualify a full team to the 2012 Olympic Games. She also won the gold on floor exercise. Although there was no all-around competition, Ferrari had the highest score from the qualifying rounds. Ferrari then competed at the Italian National Championships. She placed first in the all-around, vault, and floor exercise, and second on uneven bars and balance beam. In July, Ferrari competed at the Romanian International Friendly. She won a silver with the team and placed third in the all-around. She was named to the Italian team for the Olympics shortly thereafter. London Olympics During qualifications, Ferrari qualified to seventh the all-around, and third to the floor exercise final. The Italian team placed seventh, and Ferrari placed eighth in the all-around. In the floor exercise final, she originally tied for the bronze with Russia's Aliya Mustafina, until a tie breaker was induced and the bronze was awarded to Mustafina. Ferrari competed at the Stuttgart World Cup at the end of November and the Glasgow World Cup in December. In Stuttgart, she placed fifth in the all-around, third on balance beam, and first on floor exercise. In Glasgow, she won silver on floor exercise. 2013 At the beginning of the year, the dance element Ferrari had submitted to the FIG was added to the Code of Points. The "Ferrari" is a split leap with full turn to ring. On January 11, it was announced Ferrari would compete at the AT&T American Cup in early March. She was also announced as part of the lineup for the La Roche-sur-Yon World Cup and the Tokyo World Cup. At the American Cup, Ferrari placed fifth in the all-around and on vault and beam, sixth on bars, and second on floor. Later that month, she was announced as a member of the Italian team for the City of Jesolo Trophy.Jesolo At the La Roche-sur-Yon World Cup, she won silver on balance beam. In Jesolo, she became injured performing on balance beam in the team competition and was taken to the hospital. Her name remained on the roster during the team finals and she received a silver medal during the victory ceremony. She withdrew from the Tokyo World Cup shortly afterwards. However since the injury was minor, she was named to the Italian team for the European Championships. She didn't have the best competition, only qualifying as a reserve to the floor final. In June, Ferrari competed at the Mediterranean Games in Turkey, winning team, all-around, and floor exercise gold, and bronze on balance beam. She has recently considered retiring, but is now planning to "take a break" from gymnastics. Her next competition was a friendly meet against Germany, where she won gold with her team and in the all-around. Shortly afterwards, she was named to the Italian team for the World Championships. In qualifications, Ferrari competed in the fourth subdivision. She qualified seventh to the all-around, sixth to the beam final, and third to the floor final (tied with Romania's Larisa Iordache). In the all-around, she finished sixth. In the balance beam final, she performed third. She a good routine apart from a big step on her dismount and scored a 14.300. She finished fourth. In the floor exercise final, she performed first. She hit a very clean routine to score a 14.633. She won silver behind USA's Simone Biles and ahead of Romania's Larisa Iordache. After the World Championships, Ferrari was announced as a competitor for the Stuttgart and Glasgow World Cup, where she won bronze in the all-around for both competitions.StuttgartGlasgow 2014 In January, she was announced as a competitor for the American Cup in early March.American Cup In early February, she was announced as a competitor for the Tokyo World Cup in April.Tokyo World Cup In February, she competed at the first Serie A in Firenze, winning the team gold medal. At the American Cup, she hit four solid routines to finish fifth in the all-around. At the second Serie A in Torino, she only competed on balance beam, but contributed to her team's gold medal. At the Tokyo World Cup, she unveiled a new double layout pass on floor exercise, and won the all-around with a 56.799 total. In May, she competed at the European Championships. She placed fifth on beam and with her team, and reclaimed her floor exercise title, tied with Romania's Larisa Iordache. She chose to sit out the Italian National Championships, because she didn't feet sufficiently prepared, after only competing on beam and floor at the European Championships. In early September, she competed at the Novara Cup, winning gold with her team. The following week, she competed at the Golden League, winning team and all-around gold, and uneven bars and balance beam silver. She qualified to the floor exercise final there, but pulled out as she was feeling tired and didn't want to risk injury. She was promptly named to the Italian team for the World Championships. In Nanning, she helped the Italian team place fifth in the team final. She also placed sixth in the all-around and fifth on floor exercise. She competed at the Swiss Cup Zurich a few days later, but did not make the finals. She continued to compete after the World Championships, just missing out on the medals at the Stuttgart World Cup in late November. In early December, she competed at the Glasgow World Cup, where she didn't have her best competition and placed sixth. 2015 In February, Ferrari won gold with her team at the 1st and 2nd Italian Serie A Nationale. In March, she placed sixth at the AT&T American Cup. She was diagnosed with mononucleosis the following week, but won team gold at the 3rd Serie A Nationale.mono Still recovering, she was sent to the European Championships, where she qualified to the all-around, but pulled out and gave her spot to a teammate. She was well enough to be named to the Italian team for the World Championships, until she sustained another injury after qualifications and had to give up her spot to the alternate. 2016 Ferrari returned to competition at the 4th Italian Serie A Nationale in May, winning team gold. She competed at the Anadia World Cup in June, winning bronze on floor exercise and placing fifth on beam. In July, she became Italian National Champion, and won silver on uneven bars and placed fourth on balance beam. Following the National Championships, she was named to the Italian Olympic team.Olympics Rio Olympics Italy competed in the second subdivision of qualifications, starting on vault. After a rough beam rotation, Italy missed the team final, but Ferrari qualified twenty-fourth to the all-around and third to the floor exercise final. She placed sixteenth in the all-around. In the floor exercise final, Ferrari performed to her old "Nessun Dorma" floor music she had last used at the Beijing Olympics, but just came up shy of a medal again. 2017 Ferrari dealt with a tendon injury and subsequent surgery after Rio and had originally not planned to go to the World Championships.tendon surgeru However, by September she had changed her mind.resumed training She returned to competition at the 4th Serie A, winning team gold and showing off some impressive routines. She was named to represent Italy at the World Championships in Montreal, Canada in October. She qualified for the floor exercise final, but fell on an upgraded tumbling pass, a whip connected to a full-in, tearing her Achilles tendon.torn Achilles tendon 2019 After she decided to try for an individual spot at the Olympics, Ferrari returned to competition in February. She competed at the Melbourne World Cup, winning gold on floor exercise, and later the Baku World Cup and Doha World Cup, winning bronze on floor exercise at the latter two competitions. Medal Count Floor Music 2006-07/ 2009-10 - "Nessun Dorma" by Vanessa-Mae 2008 Euros - "The Diva Dance" by Eric Serra 2008 & 2016 Olympics - "Nessun Dorma" by Puccini 2010 - "Santa Maria" by The Gotan Project 2011-12 - [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyjgPyQi1Ks "Triangle Tango" from Cirque du Solei] 2012 - [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN3VgwHXfLA "Devil and Angel" by Maxime Rodriguez/ main title from The Last of the Mohicans] 2013 - "Tangled Up" by Caro Emerald 2014-2015 - "Tangled Up" by Caro Emerald (with vocals) 2015 - "I've Seen That Face Before" by Grace Jones 2017 - “Estan Asustaos” by Capitali/ “Rhythm of the Night” by Tommy Fresh References